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Is the 250MB 3G data plan for $14.99 a decent amount of data for a whole month?

I don't think there is enough information to conclusively answer the question. The front page post says "Users on the 250 MB service plan can also select to automatically boost their plan to unlimited service once they reach their limit." which I think could be taken to either mean a temporary boost for just this month or a permanent switch to the unlimited plan.

The article also says that you will get alerts at 20%, 10% and 0% data left. I would hope that most people are able to take the hint and upgrade manually if they have to.
 
blackNBUK said:
I don't think there is enough information to conclusively answer the question. The front page post says "Users on the 250 MB service plan can also select to automatically boost their plan to unlimited service once they reach their limit." which I think could be taken to either mean a temporary boost for just this month or a permanent switch to the unlimited plan.

The article also says that you will get alerts at 20%, 10% and 0% data left. I would hope that most people are able to take the hint and upgrade manually if they have to.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think it would suck if it was recurring, but I think that's what's going to happen. Every service that I have pre-paid has worked this way. For instance, Xbox Live.

I agree with you blackNBUK. If the user knows he's running out of data, it's his responsibility to either cancel, switch, or else he will get automatically billed.

Everything I have seen on www.apple.com/ipad/3g seems to suggest it will be recurring unless the user intervenes. Again, I'm not happy about this, but the solution is to sign up, and then cancel immediately every month, and bam, you avoid the recurring charge.
 
I would expect 250mb to be plenty. I mainly read ebooks and have push email, etc through Mobile Me. For now, I've "reserved" the wifi model but I might decide to get the 3G model. I really like the idea that it would have an always on internet connection. I could do my heavy downloads at home via wifi but I'd still be able to use the net anywhere I could get 3G. Also, I suspect I'd not bother to activate 3G until I know I was going on a trip or something, then I'd shut it down the next month. Pretty handy, really. I just gotta decide whether to keep my 16gig base model reservation or hold out for a 3G model knowing I have no immediate plans to activate it. But if I do opt for the 3G model, I'd rather keep an eye on my usage than shell out for the unlimited plan.
 
It really depends how often you are away from wifi. I for one am close to wifi "most" of the time, but there are times I am not that having the 3G option would be nice. If I do my "heavy downloading" when I am wifi connected, 250MB should be plenty.

Being able to monitor and manage the plans directly from the iPad is a big plus too.
 
melman101 said:
I... but the solution is to sign up, and then cancel immediately every month, and bam, you avoid the recurring charge.
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Again, my opinion, but just to clarify.

You don't sign up and then cancel.

You sign up and then you tell the service, when my data runs out or my service life ends, cancel me at that point.

It's a two-step process. Here's where I am today and what would you like me to do for your next round of billing? Clicking on that cancel button is not the same as cancelling your service at that point, I don't think. Cancel is more like "don't renew me."

I agree that if you only plan to use your service for one month, sign up and then set the option to cancel at the end of your commitment.
 
kensteele said:
Again, my opinion, but just to clarify.

You don't sign up and then cancel.

You sign up and then you tell the service, when my data runs out or my service life ends, cancel me at that point.

It's a two-step process. Here's where I am today and what would you like me to do for your next round of billing? Clicking on that cancel button will not turn off your service I don't think.

I agree that if you only plan to use your service for one month, sign up and then set the option to cancel at the end of your commitment.
Click to expand...

More clarification :).

I think we both agree on that being
"It's a two-step process. Here's where I am today and what would you like me to do for your next round of billing? Clicking on that cancel button will not turn off your service I don't think.

I agree that if you only plan to use your service for one month, sign up and then set the option to cancel at the end of your commitment"

:).

However, if you don't do anything, it will automatically bill you. That's my point :)
 
melman101 said:
However, if you don't do anything, it will automatically bill you. That's my point :)
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Haha, my point is you don't have a choice. You HAVE to tell it what you want to do for the next time.

You have to choose:
1)Renew me half
2)Renew me full
3)Cancel me

How do we know what the default choice is?
 
kensteele said:
Haha, my point is you don't have a choice. You HAVE to tell it what you want to do for the next time.

You have to choose:
1)Renew me half
2)Renew me full
3)Cancel me

How do we know what the default choice is?
Click to expand...

The default choice is selected once you select a plan under the "Recurring Data Charge" LOL :). It's not going to automatically pop up when you run out of data. And if you don't change anything and you run out of data, wouldn't that effectively be canceling? They would never do that. Cause the thought of someone buying something every month will annoy people. I bet most ordinary people want a recurring data charge.

I guess we will eventually see. No one is going to win. We are both firm on our points.
 
melman101 said:
The default choice is selected once you select a plan under the "Recurring Data Charge" LOL :). I guess we will eventually see. It's not going to automatically pop up when you run out of data. And if you don't change anything and you run out of data, wouldn't that effectively be canceling? They would never do that. Cause the thought of someone buying something every month will annoy people. I bet most ordinary people want a recurring data charge.
Click to expand...

Yes that's true because when you turn on and shut off phone numbers, that involves provisioning and changes to billing and I doubt ATT wants all those transactions and using up all those different phone numbers from the pool, etc. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm betting there is no way to be charged (to your credit card) more than 12 times in a year max.... for a minimum of $14.99 a month and a maximum of $29.99 a month.
 
kensteele said:
Yes that's true because when you turn on and shut off phone numbers, that involves provisioning and changes to billing and I doubt ATT wants all those transactions and using up all those different phone numbers from the pool, etc. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm betting there is no way to be charged (to your credit card) more than 12 times in a year max.... for a minimum of $14.99 a month and a maximum of $29.99 a month.
Click to expand...

Why not? Let's say I have two trips in a month hypothetically speaking. May 1st - May 7th - 1 Week - and I have 10 megabytes left.

I finish my data up right before my second trip.

Now I have another trip May 17th - May 24th - 1 Week - $14.99. So I get charged again. That's twice in one month. Now every other month, I'm fine. So that's 13 charges.

Trust me, AT&T is not going to stop you from giving them all your money.

My point is that you have to be careful. If you think you're going to go over 250MB, go unlimited for $29.99. Otherwise, you'll be spending $29.99 for 500MB :)

I am going to go 250MB but I'll be keeping an eye on usage. And if I'm going on a trip, unlimited no questions asked.
 
melman101 said:
Why not? Let's say I have two trips in a month hypothetically speaking. May 1st - May 7th - 1 Week - and I have 10 megabytes left.

I finish my data up right before my second trip.

Now I have another trip May 17th - May 24th - 1 Week - $14.99. So I get charged again. That's twice in one month. Now every other month, I'm fine. So that's 13 charges.

Trust me, AT&T is not going to stop you from giving them all your money.

My point is that you have to be careful. If you think you're going to go over 250MB, go $29.99. Otherwise, you'll be spending $29.99 for 500MB :)

I am going to go 250MB but I'll be keeping an eye on ****. And if I'm going on a trip, unlimited no questions asked.
Click to expand...


My guess and it's just a wild guess, for the period May 1 thru May 24, you will receive a net charge of $29.99 on your bill. It might not work this way if you let your account expire but again, I don't know exactly how that works. Does ATT cancel your account and maybe return your phone number back into the pool on the day your service elapses forcing you to reprovision in the next few days if you want addtional service? Or do they suspend your account until 30 days go by?

If it's the latter, there may be a way to combine the charges. Why do you think they use the word monthly? Why not just say here's 250mb of service, go for it. If you don't use all of your data in 30 days, does it roll over or do you lose it? That kinda deceptive when you potentially bill someone every week with monthly charges. If you're going to bill me for every "package" I purchase, how are you going take it away from me at the end of the expiry period? Not fair. :eek:
 
kensteele said:
My guess and it's just a wild guess, for the period May 1 thru May 24, you will receive a net charge of $29.99 on your bill. It might not work this way if you let your account expire but again, I don't know exactly how that works. Does ATT cancel your account and maybe return your phone number back into the pool on the day your service elapses forcing you to reprovision in the next few days if you want addtional service? Or do they suspend your account until 30 days go by?

If it's the latter, there may be a way to combine the charges. Why do you think they use the word monthly? Why not just say here's 250mb of service, go for it. If you don't use all of your data in 30 days, does it roll over or do you lose it? That kinda deceptive when you potentially bill someone every week with monthly charges. If you're going to bill me for every "package" I purchase, how are you going take it away from me at the end of the expiry period? Not fair. :eek:
Click to expand...

I agree it's not fair, but that's what's going to happen. They shouldn't use the term "month".

Basically, you have 250MB of Data or 30 days, whichever comes first. So May 1st - May 7th - finished. One charge, $14.99

May 7th my iPad - autorenews - One charge $14.99. Now I get a new 30 days from May 7th. It's effectively a new month.

They will not combine anything. Remember they are taking it out of credit card before use. So once you order $14.99, done, you credit card is charged $14.99 and you have 30 days or 250MB. Next time it autorenews, bam, your credit card is charged $14.99, and you get a new 30 days. You most likely will never get a bill from AT&T cause it's not billed. It's pre-paid.
 
melman101 said:
They will not combine anything. Remember they are taking it out of credit card before use. So once you order $14.99, done, you credit card is charged $14.99. Next time you order, bam, your credit card is charged $14.99. You most likely will never get a bill from AT&T.
Click to expand...

That's why I said credits earlier. The good news is it only takes once for this to happen and if this is true, the consumer will understand for next time. When you go to use your service the next time, you cannot connect...unless you immediately pay either $14.99 or $29.99 on the spot and of course, you just paid $14.99 earlier in the month. Expect a call to ATT for a credit or else an unhappy customer and if this gets out on the wire.... :mad:

Again, it only happens to you once so it's not a biggy unless you choose the $14.99 plan and you cannot amend it prior to expiry.
 
TurboSC said:
Everyone's usage is going to vary, but purchasing the 3G version is a better choice IMO, in case you ever do want to use data...
Click to expand...

Unless you already have a 3G phone with WiFi, in which case you can use that to create a WiFi-hotspot for your iPad.
 
zipa said:
Unless you already have a 3G phone with WiFi, in which case you can use that to create a WiFi-hotspot for your iPad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but then how location services work on that? And also, what happens when your phone dies? :). That's why 3G it is for me ;-).
 
melman101 said:
Yeah, but then how location services work on that?
Click to expand...

Well, if the iPad could multitask, you could fetch location info from your phone or a bluetooth GPS. Granted, I really couldn't care less about location based services on an iPad, since it's still far to big for "casual carrying". Meaning it won't fit into my pocket.

melman101 said:
And also, what happens when your phone dies? :).
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same thing as when your iPad dies, I'd imagine? :)
 
melman101 said:
So technically in a month, you can rack up a $14.99 charge everyday if you hit 250MB everyday.
Click to expand...
That would be the classic definition of insanity. If, before the end of day 1, you were notified that you had 10% remaining, wouldn't the obvious choice be to (a) cancel entirely or (b) change to the unlimited plan within the next 25MB?
Mal said:
To the OP, if all you're doing is web browsing and email, chances are 250MB will be fine, unless you visit a lot of media-rich sites and do so often. You can upgrade it if it's not, during the month, so no reason not to stick with the lower plan at first and see if it works.
Click to expand...
I don't see anywhere that says you can upgrade. Once you've consumed your 250MB, you can switch to the unlimited plan and save yourself the hassle, but it's not like AT&T is benevolent and will just say, "Oops, you used 255MB; we automatically upgraded you to the unlimited plan and just charged you the $15.00 difference. Enjoy!"

They don't do it for current plans and devices and there's no reason to think they will for the iPad.
melman101 said:
My point is that you have to be careful. If you think you're going to go over 250MB, go unlimited for $29.99. Otherwise, you'll be spending $29.99 for 500MB :)
Click to expand...
No, you'd be paying $44.98 for 31-60 days of unlimited service...unless you were too dumb to switch plans when you got the notification that you were blowing through your allotment. If 250MB lasts less than two weeks, and you need data access for more than six weeks, then it's a slight loss.

Otherwise, it's break-even or better for the user.
 
I think a lot of people have checked their iphone usage and would be okay with it.

I have mine since the inception and on average it would be okay with me.

I don't even know if I am going to go with a 3G model though.
 
250 not close to enough for me

I stream a lot of radio from the wonderradio app and my usage is 13.7 gb since I got my 3gs the first day it was available. I also brouse the Internet a lot
 
Get the unlimited plan for 29.99. the 14.99 plan is just a marketing Trick.. You will use 250mb up with in 2 days.
 
Data Plan

I have WIFI at home, but ride the bus to and from work. Does Safari or any online papers such as USA today have a way to cache their content so I can read it or would the only option be to have 3G?
 
And it's OVER 9,000mb!!!

Prawn.jpg
 
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